UK leader hits back at Elon Musk’s ‘lies’ over handling of child sex abuse scandal

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/06/uk/starmer-musk-child-sex-abuse-intl-gbr/index.html

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticized those “spreading lies and misinformation” about child sex grooming gangs in the United Kingdom, responding to an online storm whipped up by Elon Musk.

“Those that are spreading lies and misinformation, as far and as wide as possible – they’re not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves,” Starmer told reporters Monday.

For days, Musk – the world’s richest man and the owner of X – has used his social media platform to dredge up a years-long scandal over historic child sex abuse in parts of England.

Following his success in helping to re-elect Donald Trump in the United States, Musk has increasingly inserted himself into the political discourse of other countries.

Last month, Musk endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, ahead of federal elections to be held in February. As well as a string of posts on social media, Musk penned a weekend op-ed for a major German newspaper, explaining his support for the party, which has been accused of resurrecting Nazi-era ideology and slogans.

Did George Soros Help Nazis Confiscate Jewish Property?

https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-george-soros-help-nazis-confiscate-jewish-property-1801194 

Papers for a young man named Sandor Kiss "who had been born into a Hungarian family in Romania and who had made his way to Hungary after the war stated" were given to Soros.

During that time, Soros accompanied Baumbach as he took inventory of a wealthy Jewish aristocrat, Mor Kornfeld. The book says that Soros was not involved in the confiscation of property: "Baumbach was ordered to go to the Kornfeld estate and inventory the artworks, furnishings, and other property. Rather than leave his 'godson' behind in Budapest for three days, he took the boy with him.

"As Baumbach itemized the material, George walked around the grounds and spent time with Kornfeld's staff. It was his first visit to such a mansion, and the first time he rode a horse. He collaborated with no one and he paid attention to what he understood to be his primary responsibility: making sure that no one doubted that he was Sandor Kiss."

Trump golf club twice hosted speeches by Nazi sympathizer who stormed Capitol

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-trump-golf-club-twice-hosted-speeches-by-nazi-sympathizer-who-stormed-capitol/

Former United States president Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, twice featured speeches this summer from Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a Nazi sympathizer who was convicted of storming the Capitol, NPR reported Thursday.

One of those events was a fundraiser for a group that has supported Capitol riot defendants and was personally endorsed by Trump in a video message.

“All of the people there, you’re amazing patriots,” NPR quoted Trump as saying in the video. “Have a great time at Bedminster.”

Every time Donald Trump has invoked Hitler and the Nazis

 https://forward.com/fast-forward/615880/donald-trump-hitler-nazi-references/

Former President Donald Trump’s purported admiration for all things Hitler is making headlines again.

John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, reiterated his assertion that Trump said, “Hitler did some good things, too,” in a story published Tuesday in The New York Times. 

U.K. Foreign Secretary Addresses Calling Trump a ‘Neo-Nazi-Sympathizing Sociopath’

 https://time.com/7000035/uk-foreign-secretary-david-lammy-donald-trump-neo-nazi-comments/

Lammy was asked about his former comments regarding Trump during a televised interview on Thursday morning with Sky News. The U.K. network’s journalist Kay Burley asked Lammy: “Apparently you called him [Trump] a ‘neo-Nazi sociopath’ and a ‘tyrant in a toupee.’ Do you stand by those comments?”

In response, Lammy said: “Kay, you are going to struggle to find any politician who didn’t have things to say about Donald Trump back in the day. But today I’m standing here as the U.K. Foreign Secretary, you know that I’ve been to Washington’s D.C. eight times since becoming Shadow Foreign Secretary and now [the] Foreign Secretary. I meet with Republicans and Democrats, many close to Trump, and we will work with whomever the United States choose to put in the White House and become their next President.”

A timeline of the January 6 attack on the Capitol

Cartoon of Jeff Bezos That His Paper Axed Goes Viral

 

Mamzerim in the Messianic Age

 https://www.etzion.org.il/en/talmud/seder-nashim/massekhet-kiddushin/72b-mamzerim-messianic-age

Ramban (Nachmanides) and some other commentators claim that, with the arrival of the Mashiach (Messiah), there will be a Divinely authorized "pardon" of sorts for mamzerim. However, the prohibition will still be on the books, such that new mamzerim that will be created after that time will be prohibited from marrying into the Jewish community. Many other Rishonim (a name that refers to the early Rabbis of the era after the decline of Babylonia as the dominant center of the Jewish world; it includes scholars who lived approximately between the years 1000 and 1500 of the common era), including the Ran (Rabbenu Nissim), argue that even this is impossible. Rather, Rabbi Yossi means to say that Eliyahu ha-Navi (Elijah the Prophet), who according to tradition will accompany the Mashiach, will not disclose the identity of mamzerim who have integrated into the community, despite the fact that he will know the true status of each person's lineage. However, people recognized as mamzerim will still be prohibited from marrying into the community. This is a much less radical statement, because it does not posit a one-time suspension of halakha; even nowadays we do not uncover the identity of mamzerim who are not recognized as such and have integrated into the community (Gemara 71a, Shulchan Arukh EH 2:5, Rama).

בין קודש לחול | ממזרים כהנים ומלך המשיח - על המתמטיקה של הייחוס | פרופ' נדב שנרב

Common Law and Civil Marriage

 Igros Moshe (EH I #74) Man and woman living together without Chupa and Kiddushin but are only registered with government in a civil ceremony Question Regarding the woman who came from Hungary, which is under the Soviet government, and says that she was living with a man for a long time without a Torah marriage, only what was recorded in the register of the government official in the city which is the standard marriage there. There was no act of acquisition or any symbolic act but only the registration of marriage. Later they agreed to separate and they went to the government office to register their separation and from then on they had nothing to do with each other. Neither knew about Jewish rabbis or Jewish law but conducted themselves in marriage and divorce according to the secular practices of the country which they followed as law abiding citizens. After they separated the man went away and she has no knowledge where he went while she moved to Canada.  The question is whether she is free to get married since she is still young – aside from the issue of aguna that Chazal were greatly concerned for their welfare and there is also concern that she might lead a lawless life Answer And here, if the truth is as she says, there was no act of marriage done, even if it happens that there were kosher witnesses there when they were registered as man and a wife, it is nothing. But the only legal question is if they went lived together as a man and his wife in a place where there are kosher Jews to testify then we might say there is strong presumption that a person does not conduct himself in a lawless manner when it comes to marriage. But this issue is a major dispute amongst the Sages. Consequently in this case where it is clear that she never went to mikve because of Nidah because if she had she would have known about a rabbi or religious Jews and thus she would have had a religious ceremony since there are still a few religious Jews in every Hungarian city. My friend Rav Henkin claims that Jewish halachic marriage is primarily the intent of the woman to be the wife so even when there is no act of acquisition as long as she is brought into his house for the purpose of marriage as we know from their registration of the marriage it is considered a Torah marriage even it is less than a perutah  Even though his explanation  seems logical but it is difficult to justify it from the gemora. Consequently if it is possible to obtain a get it is good to be strict and get one out of concern for the view of Rav Henkin, nevertheless if it is impossible to obtain a get from the husband when his location is unknown she is still free to get married. Furthermore in our case that the civil marriage is dissolved according to the law of the land whenenever they wish to separate from each other, even Rav Henkin would agree that there is no marriage. Nevertheless it is necessary to investigate whether the facts are as she claims since Hungary has only recently become secularized  so it can not be assumed that the new laws and customs have been accepted by all the inhabitants and most have a religious ceremony after the secular one this is true even in places that the communists have ruled for 40 years , so she might be lying about not having a religious ceremony.  .  In fact if she was not known in Canada as being ever married than she is believed, since her testimony is the sole basis that she might be prohibited as a married woman so she would be believed to permit her to get married. However if she is a registered or known communist it is unlikely she had a religious ceremony 

Trump’s Pardon Promise for Jan. 6 Rioters

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trumps-pardon-promise-for-jan-6-rioters-trespass-capitol-clemency-f2d77e26?mod=hp_opin_pos_0

President Trump can’t change what happened four years ago on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an impossible effort to undo his 2020 election loss. Soon, though, Mr. Trump will get the power to extricate the riot’s participants from the legal consequences of their actions. How far will he go? “A vast majority should not be in jail,” he said recently.

Scanning the latest case activity, what jumps out isn’t sympathetic characters. On Dec. 20 a prison sentence of 48 months was given to 31-year-old Joshua Lee Atwood, who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement. He emptied a can of pepper spray at police, beat them with a pole, and pelted them with objects such as a “metal scaffolding pipe.” He yelled that the cops were “pieces of s—” and “betraying your country.” The prosecution’s sentencing memo says his criminal history includes a pending felony case for an alleged 2023 stabbing.

Tamar Epstein Heter: R' Greenblatt said he simply accepted whatever R Shalom Kaminetsky told him - Retraction of heter can not be far away

In this recent letter Rav Greenblatt says he knows nothing except what R Shalom Kaminetsky told him. He did not do any independent investigation of the facts or bother hearing both sides. A rather sad and irresponsible use of the excuse of Daas Torah to avoid the elementary responsibility required of a posek. This is especially troubling concerning the issue of permitting a married woman to remarry without a Get.

With this announcement it is clear that the retraction of the heter must follow since the facts on which it was based are clearly not true. The question  now is what happens when the heter is retracted?

Yehoshua wrote:

 

A translation for those interested:

To whom it may concern:
I certify here what I said in writing to several talmidei chachamim who asked, and that is that I do not know Mr. Aharon Freidman, may he live and be well, or Ms. (?) Tamar Epstein, may she live and be well, and it is certainly not possible for me to know anything about their marriage or any detail [that transpired] between them. Rather, Hagaon R' Sholom Kamenetzky shlita asked me: When there is testimony by expert doctors that someone is mentally ill in a way that disrupts his marriage, if it is possible to nullify the kiddushin due to this. And I said that if the matter is clear and is similar to the incident in the responsum in the Igros Moshe, it is possible to permit it under certain circumstances.
Nota tzvi Greenblatt

Tamar Epstein's Heter: R Shalom Kaminetsky's letter asking for the heter and Rav Nota Greenblatt's teshuva giving the heter

 update: added transcript of Rav Greenblatt's psak

I received the letters of R Shalom Kaminetsky and Rav Greenblatt with permission to publish them. They are not the sharpest copies but ocr doesn't work.  There apparently are a number of different versions. Will publish the variations as I receive them.

I just received a set of letters from a different source today with full unconditional permission to publish them -  so I will be publishing them without the disclaimer required from the first person. The first person also said he could not send the letters from Rav Greenblatt while the second person could.

 It is clear from these letters that R Shalom Kaminetsky was shopping for a heter of mekach ta'os as requested by Tamar Epstein. It is also clear that Rav Greenblatt accepted without question what he was told were the facts of the case and he agreed to give a heter of mekach ta'os. There were no conditions - despite what Rav Greenblatt wrote last week in the letter I published (It is the last letter in this posting).

This letter of R Shalom Kaminetsky also makes an anonymous claim that Aharon was not only mentally ill but had threatened a girl that he had been engaged to before Tamar. Anyone who knows Aharon will realize the claim is a lie. He is not violent nor has he been violent. In all the years this divorce has been in beis din and courts and the public media - there has never been a claim that he is violent. They should have added that he steals candy from babies and throws old ladies down the steps for entertainment. The level that the Kaminetsky's and Tamar's allies stooped is really sickening.

Letters  of Rav Shalom Kaminetsky claiming Aharon is incurablely severely mentally ill and asking for a heter of mekach ta'os

Letters of Rav Nota Greenblatt accepting as fact what Rav Shalom Kaminetsky said and giving a heter for Tamar to remarry without a Get

Transcript of Rav Greenblatt's letter above

  

כ"ו תמוז תשע"ג

לכבוד הרב הגאון מגדולי מרביצי תורה מוהר"ר שלום קמנצקי שליט"א

ע"ד העגונה מרת תמר אסתר שתחי' שיושבת כן כה' שנים אחר שהרופאים החליטו שאין תרופה למחלת רוח של בעלה ומיד התחילה לעזבו ולעבור לבית אמה והבעל מסרב לתת לה גט עד עתה וכבוד אבי כת"ר הגאון שליט"א רוצה לדעת חות דעתי אם אפשר להתירה לינשא בלא גט משום דבודאי לא היתה מרוצה להתקדש לו אילו ידעה מזה.

הננני מסכים מצטרף להצטרף לעוד רבנים בעלי הוראה שיתירה. הרי רוב בעלי הוראה שבדורות האחרונים, שנשאו את אחריות ההוראה על שכמם, נזקקו לסברא של מקח טעות בכגון זה, וכמו שכת' כת"ר מכמה ספרי שו"ת כי קידושין כמו בכל קנינים בעינן דעת מקנה. האחד מגאוני ההוראה והוא מרן הגרי"א הנקין זצ"ל לא נזקק לביטול קידושין בשום מקרה וז"ל בספרו (פירושי איבר"א ס"א אות מ"ז) שהכל נכנסין לספק ונו' אפילו היה מבורר המום והצד השני לא ידע ממנו, וכתב עוד (וכן בעוד מקומות) צא ובדוק בש"ס רמב"ם וטוש"ע ולא תמצא בשום מקום למעשה ביטול קדושין משום מומין אפילו להצטרף לספק אחר יעו"ש, והנה חוץ מזה שלא מצינו אין ראי' שאין הדין כן, נ"ל שיש טעם לזה והוא דבזמנם כמעט לא היתה מציאות שכזו דהיינו למצוא מום אחר הנשואין שלא היה נראה מקודם שיוכל לבטל את הקידושין (אשר לאין לו גבורת אנשים ... הרבה פעמים מתרפא אחר זמן ואופן שלא שייך להתרפאות לא שכיח' ושלא כבזמננו וענינינו מחלות רוח שהרופאים מרפאים לכמה ויודעים למיני מחלות שאין להן תרופה כזו של הבעל - הנידון. חרי לא שייך שתדור עם נחש שמצער לה הרבה ובודאי לא חיתה נישאת לכזה.

והנה בחיי הגר"מ זצ"ל אירע כאן בעירי שאחד נשא אשה ושנה שנתים אח"כ חלתה האשה במחלת לב אנושה והבעל ברח ממנה, שהרופאים אמרו שהמחלה הזו היתה לה כבר כמה שנים אעפ"י שהיתה נראית בריאה ולא תוכל לחיות רק בניתוח מסוכן מאד מאד. בעזה"ש אחר הניתוח הוטב לה וחיתה כמה שנים. ומרן זצ"ל אמר לי שיש לדון משום מקח טעות דאין אדם שיתחתן למסוכנת שכזו, (אבל היו לו עוד צירופי היתר) ומקרה זה כגון בדידן לא שייך שיקרה בימים הקדמונים.

ה' יהיה בעזרה, שלא תשב בדד ושיהיה לח נחת רוח מבתה שתחי'.

והנני בזה דו"ש וכ"ת

נטע צבי גרינבלט

 

Letter from Rav Nota Greenblatt claiming the heter was only  theoretical and conditional
See post with translation and discussion of this letter

Response to R. Shmuel Kamenetzky on the Methodology of Resolving Cases of Iggun Shalom C. Spira 13 Adar II, 5779 (third edition, revised)

Response to R. Shmuel Kamen... by on Scribd